The double take is a classic move in TV and film comedies. It’s also the response evoked by many of artist Phil La Borie’s creations, which ask, “What is actually real? What do we think is real? Does it matter?”
A new exhibition at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC, Phil La Borie: Apparent Realities, explores these questions and other possibilities through whimsical drawings and intriguing cartoons. The exhibition opens Tuesday, March 6th and runs through Sunday, April 22. An opening reception featuring a gallery talk by the artist will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 6.
A resident of Garden City, La Borie’s career as an illustrator, artist and writer spans more than 50 years. Commenting on the 40-plus works included in the exhibition, he says he first became interested in the topic of apparent realities when he learned about an argument between 18th-century philosopher Bishop George Berkeley and essayist Dr. Samuel Johnson. Berkeley claimed that reality, including physical objects, exists solely in our minds; Johnson countered that reality is based on our experience of the external world. Ever since that discovery, La Borie says, he has pondered this debate and translated it into art.
A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, La Borie spent much of his career as a copywriter and creative director in the advertising industry, working at agencies in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and Westport, CT. He has worked full-time as an artist for the past 10 years in a variety of media, including oils, magic marker and collage. With Apparent Realities, he has returned to his original love of drawing.
Apparent Realities appears concurrently with William H. Miller: What You See Is What You Get; Steven Bleicher: The King’s Highway; and Collection Connections: A Visual Exploration of Southern Heritage.
Admission to the Museum is free, and donations are welcomed.